Ark. Code Ann. » Title 5 Chapter 27
Arkansas Code Annotated

Ark. Code Ann. § 5-27-601 (2020)

Definitions

✓ Arkansas Code release r76: Acts through about 2020 (2021-2025 sessions missing)
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As used in this subchapter:

  1. “Child” means any person under seventeen (17) years of age;
    1. “Computer” means an electronic, magnetic, electrochemical, or other high-speed data processing device performing a logical, arithmetic, or storage function and includes any data storage facility or communications facility directly related to or operating in conjunction with the device.
    2. “Computer” also includes any online service, Internet service, or local bulletin board, any electronic storage device, including a floppy disk or other magnetic storage device, or any compact disk that has read-only memory and the capacity to store audio, video, or written material;
  3. “Computer network” means an interconnection of a communications line with a computer through a remote terminal or a complex consisting of two (2) or more interconnected computers;
  4. “Computer program” means a set of instructions, statements, or related data that, in actual or modified form, is capable of causing a computer or a computer system to perform a specified function;
  5. “Computer software” means one (1) or more computer programs, existing in any form, or any associated operational procedure, manual, or other documentation;
  6. “Computer system” means a set of related, connected, or unconnected computers, other devices, and software;
  7. “Deviate sexual activity” means any act involving the penetration, however slight, of the:
    1. Anus or mouth of a person by the penis of another person; or
    2. Labia majora or anus of a person by any body member or foreign instrument manipulated by another person;
  8. “Electronic mail” means an electronic message, file, data, or other information that is transmitted:
    1. Between two (2) or more computers, computer networks, or electronic terminals; or
    2. Within or between computer networks;
  9. “Electronic mail service provider” means a person that:
    1. Is an intermediary in the transmission of electronic mail from the sender to the recipient; or
    2. Provides to an end user of electronic mail service the ability to send and receive electronic mail;
  10. “Interactive computer service” means an information service, system, or access software provider that provides or enables computer access by multiple users to a computer server, including specifically a service or system that provides access to the Internet and also a system operated or service offered by a library or educational institution;
  11. “Internet” means the international computer network of both federal and nonfederal interoperable packet switched data networks;
  12. “Performance” means any play, dance, act, drama, piece, interlude, pantomime, show, scene, or other three-dimensional presentation or a part, whether:
    1. Performed live or photographed;
    2. Filmed;
    3. Videotaped; or
    4. Visually depicted by any other photographic, cinematic, magnetic, or electronic means;
  13. “Reproduction” includes, but is not limited to, a computer-generated image;
  14. “Sexual intercourse” means penetration, however slight, of the labia majora by a penis; and
  15. “Sexually explicit conduct” means actual or simulated:
    1. Sexual intercourse;
    2. Deviate sexual activity;
    3. Bestiality;
    4. Masturbation;
    5. Sadomasochistic abuse for the purpose of sexual stimulation; or
    6. Lewd exhibition of the:
      1. Genitals or pubic area of any person; or
      2. Breast of a female.

History. Acts 2001, No. 1496, § 1; 2003, No. 1087, § 2.

Research References

U. Ark. Little Rock L. Rev.

Survey of Legislation, 2001 Arkansas General Assembly, Criminal Law, 24 U. Ark. Little Rock L. Rev. 429.

Survey of Legislation, 2003 Arkansas General Assembly, Criminal Law, Computer Crimes, 26 U. Ark. Little Rock L. Rev. 361.

Case Notes

Lewd Exhibition.

Images of nude children were lewd for purposes of subdivision (15)(F) of this section and § 5-27-602 because they were designed to elicit a sexual response in a pedophile viewer; in this case, defendant admitted that he masturbated while looking at the photographs and identified which of them was his favorite for that purpose. Hayes v. State, 2013 Ark. App. 725 (2013).

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 8 cases (3 in the last 5 years), 2011–2025 · leading case: Jeremey Lewis v. State of Arkansas, 2023 Ark. 12.
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Jeremey Lewis v. State of Arkansas, 2023 Ark. 12. · cites it 16× “]” Ark. Code Ann. § 5-27-601 (1). For purposes of the Arkansas Criminal Code, with exceptions inapplicable here, a “person” is “[a] natural person[.”
Sorum v. State, 2017 Ark. App. 384, 526 S.W.3d 50. · cites it 6× “Ark. Code Ann. § 5-27-605 (a)(l) (Supp. 2015).”
Jeran Kyler Sorum v. State of Arkansas, 2019 Ark. App. 354. · cites it 4× “Ark. Code Ann. § 5-27-605 (a)(1) (Repl. 2013).”
Keith Gregory v. State of Arkansas, 2025 Ark. App. 164, 708 S.W.3d 844. · cites it 2× “Ark. Code Ann. § 5-27-602 (a)(2) (Repl. 2024).”
Gerald Lee Groomes v. State of Arkansas, 2019 Ark. App. 408. · cites it 2× “Ark. Code Ann. § 5-27-602 (a) (Repl. 2013).”
Hayes v. State, 2013 Ark. App. 725. · cites it 2× “Pursuant to Ark. Code Ann. § 5-27-601 (15)(F), “sexually explicit conduct” includes lewd exhibition of the genitals or pubic area of any person or breasts of a female.”
Boatright v. State, 384 S.W.3d 12 (Ark. Ct. App. 2011). · cites it 2× “Ark.Code Ann. § 5-27-601(15)(F) (Repl.2006).”
Sorum v. Payne, No. 4:20-cv-00547 (E.D. Ark. Sept. 30, 2022). · cites it 4× “Arkansas Code Annotated § 5-27-601(15) defines “sexually explicit conduct” as actual or simulated sexual intercourse, deviate sexual activity, bestiality, masturbation, sadomasochistic abuse for the purpose of sexual stimulation, or lewd exhibition of either the genital area or…”
Ark. Code Ann. § 5-27-601(1): 1 case
Jeremey Lewis v. State of Arkansas, 2023 Ark. 12. “]” Ark. Code Ann. § 5-27-601 (1). For purposes of the Arkansas Criminal Code, with exceptions inapplicable here, a “person” is “[a] natural person[.”
Ark. Code Ann. § 5-27-601(15): 1 case
Sorum v. Payne, No. 4:20-cv-00547 (E.D. Ark. Sept. 30, 2022). “Arkansas Code Annotated § 5-27-601(15) defines “sexually explicit conduct” as actual or simulated sexual intercourse, deviate sexual activity, bestiality, masturbation, sadomasochistic abuse for the purpose of sexual stimulation, or lewd exhibition of either the genital area or…”
Ark. Code Ann. § 5-27-601(15)(F): 1 case
Boatright v. State, 384 S.W.3d 12 (Ark. Ct. App. 2011). “Ark.Code Ann. § 5-27-601(15)(F) (Repl.2006).”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.